Looking through todays card pull...I'm like 90% sure this is what I think it is... Am I crazy or is this buck showing new antler growth already?! If so, he's got a hell of a long growing season ahead of him! Pretty awesome, if that's what it looks like it is... Whadaya think? And in case you need another What the heck moment: The year on that camera is wrong, I need to reset it after a battery change but that pic is from the current card pull. WTF is going on with a spotted fawn from '14 on camera in March of 15!?
Late born fawns will have spots right now... (Really rare pic Id say though)... As for the buck, I think it's more of a button buck/curled spike that has dropped one side and not the other yet. I'm jealous you even have cams to check right now. It has killed me not running one for like 18 months so far now....
I can't be positive but I believe that's one of our better bucks actually. No, he's dropped everything he had, both sides look the same. I have a few other bucks that have also gone from flat forehead to a lumpy appearance as well but this buck has the biggest knobs of any of them so far. Fawns spot here are usually gone by mid bow season at the latest and that was back last October. I've never seen a fawn with spots this late outside of a pic here on the forum and that was a while ago. Yeah I keep them out year around now. Deer program is a 365 day operation so figured I'd just leave them out this time. As I was going through all the cards this time I was sort of complaining to myself silently that it was boring since there aren't any antlers. Just about that time I came into several cool turkey pics and then the next two cards had these two deer on them. By the time I finished viewing the cards I was pretty happy I left them out.
I certainly hope it's one of those because if it turns out to be an axis deer, I'm gonna lose my chit!
CoveyMaster, What do you think of the bumps on the head of this deer, is that what the look like after they drop or could that be new growth?
I'd say it's possible it could be the beginning of new growth. Most of the bucks here after they dropped antlers were smooth headed like a doe except you could see the raw holes where the antlers had attached but they didn't have big bumps on their heads.
Yeah I can't tell, they're too far from the cam. Here's a pic from Feb on a different property, of a buck that had recently shed. Note that his head is fairly smooth.
Guess I better get the minerals out, we had one of our worst winters this year that we have had in years and their growing early?
I expect it's a photosensitive cycle. I found this online: White-tailed Deer: Stages of Antler Development
Good pictures. I bet you did good finding sheds. I had a fawn picture in october and I thought that was nuts.
Actually no, in spite of the camera surveys showing deer numbers up and stupid high numbers of bucks, I've had a terrible season so far finding sheds. I know we had a ton of nice bucks and still do, just not finding their antlers. I suspect it has a lot to do with having 280 acres of standing milo stubble. Last year I found most of my sheds out in the fields and those fields mostly all have two and a half foot tall stubble in them. Everything in those fields looks similar to a shed deer antler, lol. Everything is zero till with a focus on high residue conditions so it'll probably be next year before any antlers in the milo show up....or in my tires while planting.
